My Lords, I am grateful to those who have contributed to this short but well-informed and important debate on the regulations before us. As seems customary on these occasions, I thank the noble Lord, Lord Murphy of Torfaen, with whom I concur on virtually everything he said. He and other speakers, including the noble Baroness, my noble friend Lord Rogan and the noble Lord, Lord Browne of Belmont, rightly paid tribute to the legacy of Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Like other noble Lords, I was privileged to be present at some of those historic occasions; for example, the handshake in the Lyric Theatre in 2012 during the Diamond Jubilee tour of Northern Ireland. Like my noble friend Lord Rogan, I was also present at Bushmills on that day in 2016 when Her late Majesty unveiled the statue of Robert Quigg. It was a poignant and moving ceremony.
I agree also with what has been said about His Majesty the King and his deep commitment to Northern Ireland. Without in any way going into private conversations, I think we can all be confident that His Majesty will do everything to maintain the marvellous legacy of his late mother, whose ability to bring people together from across the community divide in Northern Ireland was a remarkable achievement. I am sure that will continue under His Majesty.
I also agree, of course, with the comments from the noble Lord, Lord Murphy, and the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, about the need to get the Assembly back up and running and this being an absolute priority.
My noble friend Lord Rogan referred to the events of 25 years ago, with which he was intimately associated—as was the noble Lord who chaired strand 1 of the talks. He referred to the fact that we were together at Queen’s last week for some events to mark the 25th anniversary. It reminded us how important it is to get these institutions back up and running as quickly as possible so that we can start to build a Northern Ireland that works in the interests of the whole community there; that is the surest foundation for Northern Ireland’s position in the United Kingdom.
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In respect of a couple of the questions that my noble friend Lord Rogan put to me, I think he raised the issue of a further bank holiday. As I said in my opening remarks, the changes made in these regulations are at the request of the palace so, in these circumstances, all the Government are doing is reflecting the wishes of the palace as communicated to us. However, I understand and take the point made by my noble friend; as I say, they are the palace’s wishes that we are reflecting in these regulations.
Both my noble friend and the noble Lord, Lord Browne, referred to the position in Erskine House. I am afraid it is slightly complicated. As the headquarters of the Northern Ireland Office, Erskine House does not fall within these regulations for the reasons I set out in my opening speech. For the purposes of the regulations, government buildings in Northern Ireland are those occupied mainly by the Northern Ireland Civil Service, as Northern Ireland government departments. The Northern Ireland Office does not fall into that category. There are also further complications in that the Northern Ireland Office does not own the building and is not the lead tenant in the building; this has complicated matters somewhat.
However, I completely share my noble friend Lord Rogan’s aspiration to resolve this issue as quickly as possible and see the union flag fly in an appropriate place in Erskine House on designated days, if not more. I assure him that I will take this issue back, work with my officials and urge them to seek an early resolution of this issue because it is appropriate that the union flag should fly in some form in that building. As my noble friend will know, when one walks into the building, one sees “UK Government” in large letters and the UK Government’s crest is there so, personally, I see no reason why the flag of the United Kingdom should not be there in some form. I will take this issue back and seek a quick resolution. I am, however, mindful that it took me six years to get the flagpole at Stormont House re-erected after the 2010 election; I will try to resolve this issue in a somewhat shorter time than that.
The noble Lord, Lord Browne of Belmont, referred to President Biden’s visit and the flying of the union flag. I think that the issue there—I will double-check this; if I am wrong, I will come back to the noble Lord—was simply that President’s Biden visit to Northern Ireland was not a state visit and the protocols on flag-flying relate to state visits. His visit to the Republic of Ireland was a state visit, which is why the flag flew there. In my discussions, a great deal of care was taken to follow the right protocols to the letter; that is the reason behind this.
Finally, on the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Suttie, I am afraid that she has caught me out. I cannot immediately give her an answer on where we have got to with her suggestion about 1 July becoming a public holiday as the anniversary of the first day of the Somme. However, I will take that back and find out where we are with it; obviously, it is mainly a matter for DCMS rather than the Northern Ireland Office but I will go back and find out where we are.
I hope I have covered everything. Once again, I thank all noble Lords who contributed.